It is definitely the holiday season in Copan Ruinas! Fake Christmas trees and lights have been appearing in houses. The Parents Association held its annual Bingo fundraiser. I didn't win anything, but took advantage of the great opportunity to practice my Spanish numbers. Hallie, a teacher from Tennessee, won a sheep, who is now being moved from lawn to lawn at the school to act as lawn mower and fertilizer.
The next big event was the school Christmas play. The primary students sang in the choir and the 10th and 11th graders acted out the play. The play was very educational about Honduran customs. The female conductor welcomed the audience and asked for quiet in a beautiful, but see-through shirt, with lace covering the important areas. The very accepted style here was astonishing to the US teachers. The lights dimmed, the first song began, and the audience kept right on with their conversations. There was a dim hum of conversation throughout the entire performance. I finally know why the 7th graders are incapable of sitting through even 5 minutes of class without chatting with their friends!
Finally, the Christmas Carol parade. After days of practice, during which 8A missed Science class and fell way behind 8B, 8B having the advantage of having science 5th period instead of 1st period, the singers were "ready". Led by my personal favorite of the show, the drum line, replete with xylophones and bass drum players that played first with the left hand, then the right, but hardly ever both at the same time, the singers followed Santa and, occassionally, sang. Also near the front of the parade was a truck carrying a nativity hut made earlier that day out of local branches and tree fronds by Alex and the high schoolers. The students, in their red shirts and neatly styled hair, with their hand-held lanterns made out of wood, colored cellophane and candles, looked beautiful. Wait! Candles? Yes, the Kindergarten through 7th grade (with one or 2 8th graders) were carrying fire. I've only heard two reports of hair being set on fire. The 7th graders somehow could not manage to keep their candles lit. Something about boys blowing out girls candles and girls blowing out boys candles. I followed up the rear of the parade with the other middle school teachers and decided not to force the 7th graders to sing, especially since the singing often took place with the front part of the parade and the guitar players (music teachers Hernan and Rudy as well as Alex and David, the webpage designer) around a corner from the rear of the parade. The 7th graders eventually tired of carrying their lanterns and took to burning and tearing the cellophane out, discarding the rubbage in the most accepted trash receptical - the street.
I, like any good science teacher, wrapped up the 3-day week before Christmas, by giving the 7th graders a quiz on Monday, the 8th graders a disastrous open book quiz on Tuesday (I unwisely let them vote for open book on Tuesday or closed book on Wednesday with 8A missing Wednesday's last Caroling rehearsal until they finished the quiz), and a chapter test for the 9th graders on Wednesday. Today, Friday, is our 2nd day of the holiday break! We'll be going to Costa Rica for Christmas to visit with some friends, Jose, Bernadette, Sophia, and Isabelle Solano, and renew our visas.
Happy Holidays!
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